MANITOWOC - Manitowoc County Expo broke ground on a new building Monday, marking the beginning of an important period of construction for the facility.

The new Agricultural Multi-Purpose Building will replace an older building that was condemned and torn down last year.

However, this new facility will provide much more to the Expo grounds, according to Expo Facility Manager Jennell Krizek. The $315,000 building will be used for a variety of agriculture and horse shows, and will be ready for use by the Manitowoc County Fair in August.

Immediately after the original building was condemned last year, Krizek and her staff began planning to create a new building. In some ways, the loss of the old building was a positive. The Expo could start from scratch and acquire a facility with improved features — such as 14-foot ceilings — that would make the building more appealing to organizations looking to host events in Manitowoc.

“We definitely struggled at first without the [original] building,” Krizek said. “Having this new building, and having it be so large and so new, is really going to improve the Expo.”

The building’s absence created a series of problems for Krizek. The Expo was forced to use a tent for agriculture shows that formerly were inside during the County Fair, and the lack of a facility meant there wasn’t as much space to hold the multitude of shows — which total more than 130 events — that the Expo hosts each year. Without proper funding, Krizek was worried about how the Expo would compensate for the loss.

The answer came in the form of donations. First came $100,000 from Horse-A-Rama, followed by a large donation from the West Foundation. Then, the County Board approved $120,000 in funds from the County General Fund to be allocated toward the construction of the building. Combined with donations from Investors Community Bank, plus previous funds the Expo had been saving, the plans for the new building became attainable.

“This has been a long-time dream of ours,” said Horse-A-Rama Treasurer and Secretary Bruce Kornely. “We’ve been working on [the Expo] for 28 years now, and I think … this new building will be a really big asset.”

The building is expected to be ready by the end of July, and it will offer a variety of options for the Expo that the condemned building didn’t have. An increase in the size of the facility will allow for more space to show sheep, goats, beef and other animals at the county fair and other similar events. Also, the height of the ceilings will allow for more mobility for riders on horseback, which will make the building more attractive to horse show organizations during host site selection processes.

With these two factors — and the added benefit that the facility will be brand new — Krizek believes the Expo will have a leg up in attracting organizations to host events at the Expo. She hopes this will create an increase in both the number and size of events hosted at the Expo, which would bring more people to Manitowoc.

The current schedule for construction will commence immediately, with plans to complete the building by the end of July. This will give Krizek just enough time to ready the facility for its first usage for the county fair. From there, she believes the building will continue to serve as an improvement for the Expo grounds.

“It really is going to be such a step forward for the Expo,” Krizek said. “It’s going to have so many options and provide so many opportunities for new events. I think the whole community is really going to benefit.”